Audra McDonald Attraction Tours

Earning an unprecedented three Tony Awards before the age of 30 (Carousel, Master Class, and Ragtime) and a fourth in 2004 (A Raisin in the Sun), singer and actress Audra McDonald is frequently compared to legendary performers such as Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand. But like all great artists, she is a unique force, blending a luscious, classically-trained soprano with an incomparable gift for dramatic truth-telling. In addition to her theatrical work she maintains a major career as a concert and recording artist appearing regularly on many of the great stages of the world.

During the 2009-2010 season, Ms. McDonald appeared in solo concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony, and celebrated Stephen Sondheim’s eightieth birthday with the New York Philharmonic in a star-studded gala filmed for television broadcast this fall. In the summer of 2010, she continues the Sondheim celebration in a concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival, conducted by Paul Gemignani. Together with longtime music director Ted Sperling at the piano, she makes her Tanglewood and Aspen Music Festival debuts with intimate evenings exploring new repertoire and revisiting old favorites.

Audra McDonald opened the 2008-2009 season of the Los Angeles Philharmonic with a gala concert at Disney Hall, celebrating Esa-Pekka Salonen’s final season as music director. During the summer of 2009 she returned to the New York stage as Olivia in the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Twelfth Night, directed by Daniel Sullivan. She was also heard performing a new song by Stephen Flaherty in the Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular, broadcast live on NBC. Along with her live performances, Ms. McDonald maintains a thriving television career, earning an Emmy nomination for her role in the made-for-television movie version of A Raisin in the Sun on ABC, alongside hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, her co-star from the 2004 Broadway revival. Returning to ABC in the fall of 2010, Ms. McDonald can be seen as Dr. Naomi Bennett in the fourth season of the hit television series Private Practice. Her most recent recordings are Kurt Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny—winner of two 2009 Grammy Awards—and a new studio recording of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Allegro, released on the Sony MasterWorks Broadway label.

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